1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to vehicle communication and navigation systems and, more particularly, to methods and systems for communicating with a fleet vehicle.
2. Related Art
In today's rental car market, a vehicle may be equipped with navigation capabilities. Navigation capabilities are typically achieved through the use of a navigation unit as is well known in the art. The navigation unit may be comprised of two primary components: a display unit mounted near the driver and a processing unit mounted remotely from the driver (e.g. in the trunk of the vehicle).
The Hertz Neverlost® navigation system is one such navigation unit. Unfortunately, this implementation adds significant additional cost to the purchase of the unit as well as installation and maintenance of the unit. When the rental car company is ready to sell the vehicle at the end of its in-service period, the navigation unit must be uninstalled. The navigation unit may then be reinstalled in another vehicle or disposed of if the navigation unit is at the end of its useful life. This creates significant overhead cost for the rental car company.
This technology also poses other significant limitations for the end user. The user interface for the navigation unit located in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, is often complex, and thus the operator of the vehicle must spend considerable time learning to use the system. Taking the time to learn how to operate the navigation unit, however, is not practical when the user is renting the vehicle for a period of merely days.
Outside of the rental car industry, there are vehicle navigation systems which allow a vehicle operator to remotely capture anticipated travel destinations. One such vehicle navigation system is the Online Pro™ navigation system provided by Becker Automotive Systems. In this system, the vehicle operator may enter anticipated destination information outside of the vehicle prior to travel. The anticipated destination information may be entered using a web-based software application accessed through the Internet. The entered destination information may be manually downloaded by the operator directly to the operator's vehicle.
A wireless interface is provided to the operator's vehicle using cellular phone technology such as global messaging service (GMS). Unlike the rental car situation, the operator's vehicle is known at the time destination information is entered into the system. In addition, the operator has usually familiarized himself with the operation of the vehicle navigation system. The wireless interface, however, requires a contract with a wireless phone provider and results in the accumulation of wireless phone charges when information is downloaded. In addition, wireless phone capability must be included in the vehicle and interfaced with the navigation system.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved method and system for supplying navigation information to the driver of a fleet vehicle such as a rental vehicle.